🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
A community meeting this Monday (2/8) being hosted by Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz and Mayor Sam Adams could have a major impact on the future of the Last Thursday on Alberta event. The meeting’s event page states, “The Mayor and Commissioner are considering options for Last Thursday.”
This year’s Cycle Oregon ride (which will be the 23rd annual), will take place from September 11-18 and it will have a “Round-Up” theme highlighted by a layover in Pendleton during the 100th Anniversary Pendleton Round-Up rodeo.
As per usual, the announcement came during a gala event at Nike Headquarters in Beaverton. I didn’t make it out to the kickoff party this year, but thankfully the Cycle Oregon website has all the details. Check the full details at CycleOregon.com or read the brief description below:
— Check out my slideshow and recap of the Build It rally.
— Read live updates from the hearing.
The big news from today is that there’s no big news. City Council, expected to vote to adopt the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 at a public hearing today, postponed the vote until next week.
Council heard over two hours of public testimony about the plan today. The testimony was overwhelmingly positive, but there were a few people who showed up to express concerns. Representatives of the freight community expressed concern that some routes proposed as “City Bikeways” are on priority truck routes. One St. Johns residents made a strong point about how people on bicycles do not pass people walking with enough care and consideration. “Until more education and enforcement is done, I don’t support this plan.”
[Refresh this story for latest updates. Don’t miss my slideshow and recap of the rally prior to the hearing.]
Things are underway here in Council Chambers at the 2030 Bike Plan hearing.
Mayor Adams kicked things off with an intro (this update of our 1996 plan began when he was Transportation Commissioner, he now continues to oversee PBOT as Mayor):
I always consider our transportation system to be in service to larger city goals… Bikes aren’t the total answer, but they’re a very important piece of acheiving those goals.
Year: 2008
Brand: Brompton
Model: M6
Color:Dark green
Size:Foldable
Serial:0803085653
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2010-02-04
Stolen From: SE 31st and Clinton
Neighborhood: Richmond
Owner: Thomas Penberthy
OwnerEmail: Tom@Penberthy.org
Reward: 100
Description: Leather seat; frictionless, wheel mounted lighting system, ergonomic hand grips, bell
Police record with: Portland Police Dept.
Police reference#: 10-150371
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
The “Build It” rally outside City Hall in support of the 2030 Bike Plan just finished up and now folks are settling in for the big hearing.
The rally was an informal affair with many supporters (150-200?) holding signs. They all sang Devo’s “Whip It,” substituting “Build It” at the appropriate time. There were a lot of very enthusiastic supporters of the plan. Bike Gallery owner and Bike Plan Steering Committee Co-Chair Jay Graves told me he is “Cautiously optimistic” about how it will go inside Council Chambers. “With all the negative media coverage… But this is Portland, I’m hopeful.”
The Portland Business Alliance released their letter on the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 today.
The six-page letter signed by CEO Sandra McDonough on behalf of 1,400 businesses expresses support “of the overall goal” of the plan but also calls out some concerns and offers several suggestions.
The PBA (download PDF here) calls the plan’s goal of 25% bike usage “unrealistically high” and questions the wisdom of emulating cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
I thought it’d be fun to take a quick look at what you might hear from Mayor Adams and his colleagues on City Council at the 2030 Bike Plan hearing today. It’s sort of a foregone conclusion that they will all vote in support of the plan, but with politics, you just never know.
Here goes…
Today is the Big Day for Portlanders — the day City Council holds a special hearing on the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. We’ll have lots of coverage to come, both live from City Hall today and plenty of analysis tomorrow. For now, let me direct you to the conversation in greater Portland being furthered with help from our local media outlets.
Overnight there was a lot more coverage of the plan that I want to bring your attention to.
According to a story in The Oregonian, Joe and Hau Hagedorn have settled a lawsuit brought against them when a man on a bicycle crashed into a dirt pile left out in front of their house. The pile-up happened at around 2:00 am in July of 2007 on SE 20th just south of Division.
From The Oregonian, here’s what happened:
“Jeremy Hooton was pedaling in the dark along 21st Avenue near Division Street at 2 a.m. when he hit the pile, causing him to fly over his handlebars and slam into the street, according to his Multnomah County Circuit Court complaint.”
Lots of great rides and events happening in the next few days. Check out the listings below to plan your weekend adventures.
6:00 pm: Monthly Vegan Dinner Bike Ride
You don’t have to be vegan to join this fun social ride (but please don’t bring meat!). Follow @veganride on Twitter for the latest.
We had a great evening with Ginny Sullivan tonight. The room was packed and we had about 9,000 viewers online (according to our web/audio guy Dan Kaufman from Crank My Chain). We chatted about the U.S. Bike Route System, mingled with friends, enjoyed some fine food and beverage, gave away some raffle prizes, and fielded some excellent questions from the audience (including one from a woman in Sacramento watching online!).
Check the video below for the full show (the video isn’t great, but the audio is fine!):